A FUND-RAISING LETTER from James Carville, Rasputin to the Clintonov Dynasty, shows that as this administration and its supporters grow increasingly desperate, they are
resorting to a tried-and-true tactic --- savaging conservative Christians.

In the appeal from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Carville allows, "I
like to think of myself as a warm and caring human being." Those are the very words
that spring to mind in any discussion of James Carville, just as "sincerity" and "integrity"
are intimately associated with his boss, the president.

Ragin' Cajun Carville

To demonstrate his compassion, the architect of Clinton's electoral triumphs launches
into a five-page rant on the Christian Coalition, "a tightly-organized and lavishly financed
right-wing group," which, Carville cautions, has taken over the GOP and set its sights
on the nation.

"We're the folks who stand between these ambitious preacher-politicians
and the political power they crave," the solicitation exhorts. If Republicans
achieve a veto-proof Senate this year, they will "be in a position to pay off, with
interest, the enormous political debt they owe to the religious right-wing."

After the legions of piety win political power through their Trojan elephant, "they will do
to the country what they have done to the Republican Party," Carville writes.

This slime-slinging is vintage Carville and reflects liberal disdain for those who take
religion seriously. Just a few weeks ago, Carville characterized special prosecutor Ken
Starr as a psalm-singing nut case who "goes down by the Potomac and listens to
hymns," while praying that "all Sodomites and fornicators" be cleansed from the capital.

Last month, Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal called W. Hickman Ewing Jr. of Starr's
office a "religious fanatic." Ewing's fanaticism consists of being a born-again Christian
and a churchgoer. Blumenthal apologized after 53 congressmen signed a letter to
Clinton demanding the president repudiate his remarks.

And then there's Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, a major Democratic donor. He's
angry at the Southern Baptist Convention for its boycott of his company -- an action
prompted by Disney's persistent attacks on traditional values ("Ellen," etc.).

Interviewed on "The Today Show" on April 21, Eisner noted that the boycott passed at
the same convention where the Baptists renewed their commitment to proselytizing
Jews. That, said Eisner, is "something that hasn't been recommended since the '40s in
Europe."

What happened in Europe in that decade wasn't an effort to convert Jews but to
annihilate them. The Disney head creates a fantastic equation -- the boycott equals
proselytizing equals genocide. Eisner neglected to tell us whether the Baptists are an
evangelical Waffen SS or Death Head Brigade.

The natives are restless, Bawana. The drums, beating on the left, are speaking:
Religious conservatives evil, want to shred Constitution, trample Bill of Rights, abolish
civil liberties and establish oppressive patriarchy over lives and bodies of women.

Eisner, Blumenthal, Carville -- take a few deep breaths. If you believe this trash, you're
weak-minded. If you don't, and are spreading anti-religious hysteria for political
advantage, you are beneath contempt.

Yes, the Christian Coalition is scary. Its 1998 legislative program includes passage of
the Freedom From Religious Persecution Act to punish countries that oppress
Christians, ending the marriage tax penalty and support for school-choice experiments
like the District of Columbia Student Opportunity Scholarship Act (recently vetoed by
the president), which would have provided tuition grants for 2,000 students from poor
families.

Now, it's quite possible that Carville and his master consider this an extremist agenda,
legislated virtue and the moral equivalent of theocracy. For significant majorities of the
American people, these proposals all seem fair, commonsensical and necessary.

In truth, the Coalition, Southern Baptists and other religious conservatives have more
controversial goals, including an end to abortion on demand, opposition to gay rights
legislation and equality for religious expression in the public sphere.

Democrats are perfectly free to disagree with them, to argue against their program, to
attempt to refute their positions.

Come to think of it, the First Amendment even allows them to lie about, slander and
demonize religious conservatives -- an option of which liberals avail themselves with
increasing frequency. But, in so doing, they demonstrate the honesty and decency of a
James
Carville.

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